Fight for Freedom
by Sharkey52
Summary: Based on the plot of Tomorrow When The War Began. When Solana takes some classmates into the bush for a weekend, they have no idea upon returning home they must fight to protect their lives, their families and each other...
1. A great idea

**Yeah, here I am with this story again. I was going to make it for a completely different set of characters from an anime series, but I like writing about the Pokémon Rangers and they seemed to fit the characters, plus there's seven of them.**

**This story isn't cannon. The characters aren't actually rangers, and is set in Australia rather than the Pokémon world, sorry to disappoint. I'm assuming the characters are all about 17 and about to start their last year of high school, plus they're all in the same year. Solana and Summer are best friends, Ben and Summer are dating and Keith is Solana's next-door neighbour who gets himself into more trouble with the law then I care to explain.**

**The story shall be based around one of my favourite movies (I'm still unsure why because I usually hate these types of movies) called Tomorrow When The War Began, however I will be making some noticeable changes, mostly to Kellyn's character.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Tomorrow When The War Began or any of the Pokémon Rangers characters, accept for my OC who will be stating later.**

**Okay, so, let's get down to business!**

* * *

**Chapter one**

**A great idea**

**I watched the screen of the video camera that had been turned backwards. The one piece of technology we had left that worked beyond the radio, and I didn't know if anyone would ever find it. I looked at the face of the person on the screen, the person the camera was filming. Blue hair, tired auburn eyes, cheeks red from scratching and crying. Yes, that was me. Me, Solana Hinata. I took deep breath, gulping back tears as I recollected what had happened to me, to us, over the course of the last month.**

**"I'm not gonna hold back" I breathed, my eyes watching my lips, cracked and swollen from day without fresh water, move on the camera screen "I've warned the other I don't want to." I sighed "Recording it like it, it's...important...to us. I guess it's our way of telling ourselves that we matter." I paused, taking another deep breath to calm myself "That we mean something. That maybe...some of the things we've done...and the friends that we've lost...hopefully it all makes a difference somehow." I rub a tear from my left eye and lied to myself it was only a speak of dust causing it to water. I didn't cry, not anymore. A battle leader doesn't cry.**

**"There's only one way to do this" I told the camera lens, eerie black amongst the long grass in the midday sun "And that's to go back, back a month into the past...back to where it all began..."**

* * *

A blue motorbike tore through the Australian town of Wirrawee. The people of said town were preparing for the festive, and so when an young girl, a young girl renowned for causing trouble in her own way, on a motorbike nearly crashed into a pile off boxes, the two men trying to move them weren't exactly in a forgive-and-forget mood.

"Hey watch it!" one snapped, shaking his fist after the girl who then proceeded to mow through some hay bales.

"Mind yourself Solana!" the second one snapped in a deep Aussie accent. The teal-haired girl with the upward ponytail named Solana looked over her shoulder, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment.

"Sorry! No control!" She called back, although with only one hand on the handlebars she narrowly missed a pile of crates filled with eggs. Everyone exhaled as she missed them and steered out of the show-ground.

"Someday" the first man sighed "Someday that kid's gonna get herself into more trouble than she knows what to do with."

Solana somehow avoided getting into any more trouble as he left the town and headed up the hill. The dirt path weaved a bit and was very bumpy, bouncing the seventeen-year-old girl all over the place uncomfortably as she finally made it to the farm. The Australian flag flapped on a tall flagpole and the old tree house sat in the oak tree just a little way down the hill. If Solana couldn't live in her own home, she would have wanted to live in no other place but Summer's farm.

"Summer!" she called, turning off the engine of the motorbike and resting it on its stand "I'm here! Summer!"

"Sol!" Summer's voice rang through the open front door "Come in! I'm in my room!" Solana took off her sunglasses, revealing her auburn eyes, and headed inside. True to her word, Summer was sat on her bed cross-legged reading a book. Tanned skinned with brown-blonde hair and brown eyes, she was the same Summer as always.

"Hey!" Solana sat down on a chair opposite the bed "So, come on. How was your date with Ben?"

**I was a little demanding back then, but you would be if two of your best friends had just been on a date.**

"Less of a date, more of a coffee and a movie" Summer explained, putting down her book.

"Fine how was your romantic coffee-and-a-movie with Ben?" Solana folded her arms.

"Yeah, it was cool" Summer shrugged "Don't give me that look! Like you've ever asked someone out before!"

"I'm a girl, I thought boys were the ones supposed to be doing the asking out?" Solana asked. Summer laughed.

"Just promise you won't tell Mum or Dad, they thought I was studying at the library with him" Summer begged.

"Don't you trust your best friend?" Solana asked.

"Pinky swear" Summer held her little finger in the air in front of her friend.

"Ah, the good old pinky swear" Solana sighed "Is that not something we stopped doing in second grade?"

"Come on" Summer urged. Solana sighed and looped her little finger with Summer's. They both laughed.

**Summer's been my best friend for as long as I could remember. Whenever I had a problem, which was quite frequent with my reputation, I would go tell Summer. And somehow she'd always fix it. Although with Summer, this could often result in extreme pain towards the one who had cause the problem, mainly Keith.**

"So, summer holidays huh" Solana sighed, turning the chair around so she rested her chin on the front of it "What do ya wanna do?" Yup, eight weeks of bliss and no school had just started three days ago.

"How about a trip into the bush?" Summer asked "Like, I dunno, up the river again?" Solana smiled. She loved hiking up the river. The sight, the smells, the animals, minus the spiders, it was one of her favourite places.

"Yeah, we haven't been up the river in ages" Solana nodded "We could take Plusle." Plusle was her golden retriever puppy. She would follow Solana all over the place if she didn't keep her inside "Maybe Dad would let us take the Land Rover."

"And maybe Ben could come with us?" Summer suggested.

"What, so you can invite him on another date?" Solana teased, sitting on the bed with her "A romantic stroll through the bushes, along with the snakes, spiders, sweat, humidity."

"Okay, you've made your point!" Summer laughed "Look, we'll get a bunch of us together and, if your dad let you loose with the Land Rover, we could go further up the river than we've ever been before. Like, even up to the point, and all the way into El Diablo."

"Seriously, why do we call it that?" Solana asked "Just because no one ever goes there we call it 'The Devil'."

"Well, we could always call it 'Bug-infected bush land of misery', but everyone got a bit bored of that" Summer joked.

"Okay" Solana nodded "I'll ask him."

* * *

At the family dinner that night, Solana spilled the idea to her parents.

"El Diablo's all the way on the other side of the point" her dad pointed out "Nobody ever goes there."

"Yes" her mum agreed more sternly "So why don't you go up the river again? You always loved that."

"That's the point! We want to go somewhere we haven't been before" Solana explained "Have a real adventure."

"Well why don't you take the bikes, why the Land Rover?" Dad asked.

"Or even horses" Mum added "Make it a real bush-ride campout." Solana groaned. Parents!

"Guys! I'm not ten anymore!" she protested "Besides, if there was an emergency wouldn't you prefer that I had the Land Rover? It's much faster."

"I don't know Solana" Dad finished and got up from the table, taking his plate with him "It's a pretty big ask."

"Alright, well like it or not Dad I'm turning eighteen this year so don't you think it's time I started showing..." she trailed off, walking over to the sink and placing her empty plate beside it "Initiative, independence and all that other good stuff." Her parents smiled at each other "Come on! It's just for the weekend! What's the worst that could possibly happen?"


	2. Rounding up the troops

**Fight for freedom**

**Chapter two**

**Rounding up the troops**

"No way!" Summer beamed over the Skype line "I can't believe you got their permission!"

"Yeah right!" Solana snorted, stroking Plusle who was sleeping in her lap "You knew I would!"

"Did not!" Summer folded her arms.

"Did too!" Solana responded "You already invited Mr Cocky-and-Confident before I replied!"

"Ben's not cocky!" Summer complained "Alright, maybe a little..."

"And he doesn't mind missing the show this weekend?" Solana asked hopefully.

"Like Ben minds if his little brother wins the sack race, or his mum the 'Best Decorated Cake' competition!" Summer snorted. Solana sighed, realising she was going to have to bring the idiotic hair-gravity-defying teen along with her.

"Right, so who else are we inviting?" she asked.

"Somebody fun" said Summer. They paused for thought before smiling and saying the same thing at the same time:

"Keith!"

* * *

**Keith Dazuru grew up on the farm next to mine, so he was kinda like a brother to me. Except I was the only one who ever grew up. He was always getting into trouble, both in school and out. The new police sergeant arrested him three times in one week! But that didn't slow down Keith. I think it was the proud, rebellious American side of him. He just didn't care what he did, or what anyone thought of him.**

Solana peered through the open bonnet of the car, through the machinery parts at Keith fixing it underneath.

"So how about it?" Solana asked, handing a spanner down to the ginger through the car "Are you in or are you out?"

"Yeah, I can have a go at that" he nodded, rocking back and forth on the skateboard he was lying on "Just girls and I going?"

"Nah, Ben's coming, unfortunately" Solana answered "And we're hoping for a few others."

"Well, it'll be good for you to have a proper man around" Keith smiled, un-tightening something with the spanner "To do all the hard work for ya." Without warning, oil rained down onto a unsuspecting Keith's face. He gave a cry of annoyance and rolled out from under the car, swiping at the oil that was staining his ginger hair black. Solana burst out laughing, almost falling to the ground as she was sure two of her ribs broke.

"Yeah! A proper man!" she laughed.

* * *

The four chosen ones sat on the side of the river, Ben and Summer attempting to fish whilst Solana and Keith watched.

"So, who else can we invite?" Summer asked.

"What about Katherine Hitomi?" Keith suggested.

"Kate?" Ben asked "In the bush?"

"Why not?" Keith shrugged "Summer, you've got her number, phone her." Summer sighed, handing her rod to Keith.

"I suppose anything is possible" she sighed.

* * *

Sitting in a beauty parlour, Kate was having her light-ginger hair blow-dried when her phone rang. She flip it open.

"Hello?" she asked. Summer began talking "Oh gosh! You really want me?"

**Kate was the only girl, no, only person, I knew under 60 who said the word 'gosh'.**

"Well no" Kate jumped as Solana replied rather than Summer "But our parents said we need someone of a higher and more sensible," she scoffed at this "class to go with us."

"Alright, I'll have to ask my parents though" Kate answered "This is out in the bush isn't it?" She tried not to bite her lip, she'd have to reapply her lipstick "But sure, I'll try."

* * *

**The next person we asked was Lunick Kazuki. Lunick was the oldest boy in our class. He was, in a word...weird I guess. His mother ran a restaurant, so he spent most of his time there, playing piano or something. I saw him now and again, walking his puppy Minum who seemed to like Plusle a bit. But he was the only one I could, no, dared to invite. Trust me, if you met my class, you would understand.**

Solana scrolled down the contact number in her phone, walking back and forth along the farm's porch. Plusle, tired of trying to follow her back and forth, was sat down in the doorway, waiting for her mistress to finally stop pacing. She sighed, since when did she have so many contacts? Finally she found what she was looking for. Lunick Kazuki. She frowned, why did she have his number in her contacts again? Oh yeah, last year's geography project. She shuddered.

'_Better get this over with_' she thought. She pressed on the contact button and listened to the phone on the other end ringing.

_**"Hello?"**_ a voice with a slightly Asian accent answered the phone, but not Lunick's voice.

"Hi, Mrs Kazuki" Solana smiled.

"_**What's your order?"**_ the voice asked. I frowned. No, I didn't want to order anything.

"No, no" I said "It's not that..."

_**"Do you want to book a table or takeaway?"**_

"No, I'm not ordering..." Solana tried again.

_**"Do you have a menu?"**_

"No!" Solana sighed with annoyance, just avoiding stomping her foot into the veranda's wooden floor "I mean yes, I do! But I don't want to order!"

_**"Well then what do you want?"**_

"Lunick!" she was starting to lose it now "I want Lunick!"

_**"Lunick?"**_

"Yes! Did you hear me?" It was unlike Solana to get angry, unless she was getting frustrated with Keith or Ben, but this was going too far "I. Want. Lu-nick! I. Want. Lu-nick! I. Want..."

_**"This is Lunick"**_ a younger Asian voice said. Lunick! She had no idea the phone users had been swapped! She stood there, paralysed for a few seconds, her rage forgotten.

_**"Um...hello?"**_ Lunick asked _**"Who is this?"**_

"Oh, well, Lunick, it's Solana Hinata" she quickly recovered "You might not remember me. We sat next to each other in Geography last year. I had teal-blue hair and red eyes..."

_**"Yeah, I remember you Solana"**_ Lunick interrupted _**"But, er, why are you ringing me on my mum's restaurant's phone? Couldn't you just use my mobile?"**_ Solana froze again. She looked down at the screen of the phone: Lunick Kazuki: Work. She slapped her forehead and groaned.

"Sorry, I meant to get you on your mobile!" she groaned "Anyway...it's just, a couple of friends and I were planning on taking the Land Rover into the bush for the weekend, up past the point into El Diablo."

_**"El Diablo?"**_ Lunick asked.

"Yeah" Solana nodded, although Lunick wouldn't be able to see it "We needed another member and you were the only one I could trust..."

_**"Yeah, sure"**_ Solana needed a moment or two to digest what Lunick had just said _**"Sure, I'll come. It'll give me a break from the restaurant."**_

"Really?" Solana asked "Boy, am I glad. I mean if you didn't agree to it we'd have had to rake in Ponte and..."

_**"Um, Sol, do you mind if I call you Sol?"**_ Lunick cut her off from ranting again, yikes she was being such a girl! _**"My mum needs me to get back to work again. Do you mind just texting me the details?"**_

"Er, yeah, sure" Solana agreed "Bye." On the other end, Lunick said good bye and hung up. Solana pressed the red button on her phone and sat down on the veranda, looking up at the stars. Automatically Plusle trotted over to her. She stroked her fondly and smiled.

"Only one more to go, hey girl?" she smiled.

**See, Dad said I had to take eight people, or none of us went. I argued back and finally we reached a compromise. Seven of us could go, but the seventh had to be Kellyn Hajime, the son of a priestess and a tool shop owner. Bizarre combination, I know. I knew him from school, he was the only person who could win what we'd started calling 'The Grand Slam of PE Lessons'. He was one of those no-nonsense types, so Dad thought he could protect us from danger and stuff. I don't know how, considering the poor guy's a pacifist thanks to his mum's religious teachings and all that. Whether he could protect us from Keith and Summer from Ben was yet to be seen.**

* * *

"So you want me to go on your field trip?" Kellyn was in his father's store, building what might have been a generator, but Solana couldn't tell.

"It's not a field trip" Solana sighed, sitting on the end of the work bench "More of a last-year-of-school bonding exercise."

"Are you making this up as you go along?" Kellyn asked. Solana rubbed up the back of her neck in embarrassment.

"Yup, pretty much" she nodded "It's not like you even have to have anything to do with us. You only have to come along to satisfy my parents. You can just sit at the side and do, well, whatever you wanna do. If you want you can even bring your own tent and sleep by yourself."

"You wanted us to share?" Kellyn asked, raising a brown eyebrow.

"Not really, just pairs or threes, depending on how many tents we can find" Solana shook her head "Come on, it's either you spend the weekend with us or giving six-year-olds pony rides and cotton candy." The picture of Kellyn giving little kids cotton candy made Solana shiver slightly. Pacifist or not, he could scare bulls with a single glare.

"I suppose even you lot would be better company than the egg and spoon racers" Kellyn sighed, setting down his screwdriver "Alright, I'll be your protector, if Keith's coming along then you'll need one." He narrowed his green eyes "But first, there are some conditions. One, what I says goes, whether everyone likes it or not. Second, I get my own tent. And third, one prank on me out of any of you, especially Ben and Keith, and they'll end up heading home down the river the wet way, understood?" The death glare in Kellyn's eyes made Solana shiver in her boots. Why had she allowed Summer and Ben to talk her into this? Oh yeah, because she was the only one who could actually walk up to Kellyn and say hi, accept for maybe his childhood friend Kate, without wetting themselves or getting punched in the face, let alone strike up a conversation with him.

"Y-yeah, your terms and conditions have been applied" Solana nodded quickly. She liked her eyes when they weren't the colour of shadow, if that was okay with everybody. She quickly gave the details to Kellyn before walking out of the tool shop, very quickly. She then flipped open her phone and scrolled all the way down (seriously, why did he have to have a best friend with Su at the beginning of her name?) to Summer's number.

"Hey Summer" she smiled "Kellyn's in." Solana bit the corner of her lip "Is that good or bad news?" She peered over her shoulder through the shop window, Kellyn was still glaring after her with his green gaze "I-I'm really not sure."


	3. To El Diablo

**Fight for freedom**

**Chapter three**

**To El Diablo**

**So there we were, seven teenagers, four boys and three girls, stuck with each other in a Land Rover for two hours. For some peculiar reason, everyone seemed to be terribly afraid when I said I was driving, but Kellyn and I had worries of our own. Like putting Ben and Keith in the back, just behind Kate.**

The Land Rover was, in a word, cramped. Solana was driving and had nearly driven them off the road at least four times in the last ten minutes. Kellyn was in the passenger seat, looking out the window seeming a mixture of irritated and just plain bored. In the middle were Summer and Lunick on either end and Kate, with her arms folded and spiky pigtails jiggling, in the middle. In the very back were Keith and Ben, a big mistake allowing them to go together. Keith was drinking nosily out of a plastic cup with a straw, leaning over Kate's shoulder and bugging her.

"You okay?" Keith asked. Kate nodded, although everyone could tell Solana's driving was making her sick.

"You're looking a bit pale" Keith commented. The Land Rover went over a particularly rocky bit of the road "Whoa!"

"Keith will you quit it with the drinking noises already!" Solana complained "Trying to concentrate here!"

"Yeah Keith!" Summer agreed, turning to face the irritating male ginger "It's really off-putting!"

"And we'd like it if Solana didn't manage to crash the car, if that's okay with you" Lunick folded his arms. Keith though ignored them and began sucking the lemonade out of the cup as noisily as possible. Kate covered her mouth.

"You know Katherine," Keith smiled mischievously "You look like your gonna-" Here he started making vomiting noises. Kate tried to ignore him "It's stuck in the back of your throat isn't it? Trying to swallow it all down."

"Knock it off Keith!" Kellyn protested. Keith ignored him and continued making vomiting noises. Finally Kate couldn't take it anymore. She leant over Lunick out the window and was sick. Ben and Keith hi-fived each other.

"Nice one Keith!" Ben cheered from the back. Lunick looked majorly crept out and Summer gave a shake of her head that plainly said: 'It's normal'. Solana rolled her eyes. Okay, it was kinda funny, but she needed all her powers of concentration right now. She was about to turn back in her seat and yell at Keith to pack it in when Summer cried:

"Tree!" Solana quickly swerved to the left to avoid the leafy perpetrator.

"Are we almost there yet?" Kellyn asked, also rolling his green eyes.

"Nearly, about five more minutes" Solana answered. Kellyn snorted.

"Well won't we be glad when that time comes."

* * *

True to her word, Solana parked the car in the empty dirt car park on top of the headland at the point. It provided a great view of the bush in all directions and Keith immediately went to the edge of the cliff to inspect the scenery. Ben, Lunick and Kellyn immediately set about unloading everyone's bags. Summer and Solana were far too occupied to help out, they were busy going through Kate's things.

"How much stuff do you need?" Summer asked, taking something out of the blonde's enormous rucksack "What's this?"

"Well it's pink" Solana commented, opening what she could only presume was a pencil case "Wait a minute." She looked at Kate and showed her it "Makeup?"

"What, all of it?" Summer raised an eyebrow. Kate snatched the huge makeup bag from Solana.

"You never know who you could meet!" she snorted.

"Yeah, I'm sure you can charm all the spiders and snakes away with it" Solana teased. Summer then burst out laughing, holding up a pair of white fluffy slippers. Kate snatched those off them too.

"Hey guys! Look!" Keith was standing on a big rock on the edge of the point "You can see Cobbler's Bay from here!" To the North West was a V-shaped valley of nothing but green except from the river cutting through it. Beyond that was an enormous a beautiful blue bay stretching out to see in a clear semi-circle shape. A little way up the river was a big metal bridge: the Heron Bridge which connected the bay to the rest of Australia, including their home "You can even see the Heron Bridge! And the port!"

"How far do you recon we've come?" Ben asked.

"Oh, that was the easy part short-stuff" Summer smiled, looping an arm over his shoulder "From now on, we walk!"

* * *

They'd been walking for over two hours when they reached the small cliff. A five metre drop straight down. It the side was a narrow slit with a ledge where you could climb down. Solana and Summer were already down and helping Kate to slide down the smooth rock. Keith was down at the base too, catching the bags that Kellyn impaled down towards him.

"Hey! Don't throw them so hard!" Keith protested as he caught Ben's bag that almost dragged him down to the ground and pulled his arms out of their sockets.

"Oh stop moaning!" Kellyn snorted "Ready?"

"Okay, on three" Keith nodded "One, t..." Kellyn chucked Lunick's bag down and Keith just managed to catch it.

"I said on three!" Keith complained.

"Mind yourself Sunshine!" Kellyn teased, almost insensitively.

"Give it a decent throw Sweetheart!" Keith shot back, though secretly he didn't want Kellyn to throw any harder. That guy was downright dangerous when he was smiling like that!

"Oh yeah?" Kellyn picked up Kate's bag "Well try this on for size!" He chucked it down as hard as possible, and this time Keith really did end up grovelling in the dirt. Summer and Solana burst out laughing.

"Watch your mouth Keith!" Solana laughed.

"Yeah, you may need it later kiddo!" Summer laughed.

Just as Kate moved out of the way of the 'path' though, Lunick came down. Quite bored, he felt like doing some minor showing off and leapt down onto the ledge hands-free. He then planted his hands on either side of the rock and swung down, landing on the ground comfortably and walking out of the way. Solana couldn't help but be impressed. Ben, who had been passing the bags at the top to Kellyn for him to throw down to Keith, then attempted to do the same thing, but Ben can't do _minor_ showing off. He reached the ground, but as he did his right foot slipped on a wet root and he was sent flying into the bushes.

"Er...come on, let's go" said Solana hastily just before Ben called:

"I meant to do that!"

* * *

The young explorers walked on through the bush wilderness. Keith was in front, using two enormous sticks that could qualify as either bamboo or entire braches of trees as walking sticks.

"Do you have any idea where we're going Keith?" Ben called from the back unhelpfully. Summer elbowed him.

"Sure I do!" Keith called back, stamping one of his walking sticks into the mud so hard he couldn't remove it again so was forced to abandon it "There's a clearing up ahead." He was surprisingly right. A waterfall-fed pool more than a clearing with a sandy, cave-like arena underneath. A small outcrop of rock at the top of the cliff made a path into it. There were smooth rocks around and in the pool that the girls immediately sat on.

"Ah! Water!" Keith dumped his stuff and ran into the water. Sweaty but still fully dressed, he removed his cap and stood under part of the waterfall, allowing the water to cool him down. Kellyn walked down to the water and splashed his face. Lunick, Solana and Kate removed their socks and shoes and sat with their feet cooling off in the water.

"This is very pretty for 'The Devil'" Kate commented.

"I wonder how long it's been since anyone's been down here" Solana wondered, splashing her face with water also.

"I wonder if _anyone_'s been down here before" Lunick sighed, standing up and walking over to his bag.

"Why would anyone else have bothered?" Summer asked, watching Keith make a fool of himself in the waterfall.

"Maybe we're the first ones to see it" Ben suggested, whipping out his phone from his pocket and preparing to take a picture. Summer turned around and smiled for him as took it.

"Ah" she said, looking at the phone "No reception."

"Whoooo! Paradise!" Keith called in glee from under the waterfall. He was letting the water fall into his open mouth now.

"Well, what did you expect, broadband?" Solana teased.

"Couldn't have hurt" Ben shrugged, slipping the phone into his bag's side pocket.

"Oh, hey!" Keith started to walk out of the pool, looking at Lunick "You. Whatcha-name. Go get some firewood would ya?"

"His name is Lunick" Solana shot back, suddenly feeling defensive. He splashed some more water on her face to try and calm herself down. All he achieved was getting her hair wet. Lunick sighed and headed off into the trees.

"I'll come with you" Summer offered, going with him.

"Umm...Solana?" Kate asked.

"Yeah?" Solana looked at her.

"What's for dinner?" she asked.

"Ah, speaking of dinner" Solana smiled, getting up and walking over to her bag. She held up dinner "Two Minute Noodles."

"Cool" Kate mindlessly nodded "What are they?"

"You've never heard of Two Minute Noodles?" Solana asked, handing her a second packet to look at.

"No" Kate shook her head "Mum's more into the healthier stuff." She started looking at the ingredients on the back.

"There's that awesome feeling that you're going to change someone's life forever" Keith smiled, drying his hair with a towel.

"I think all our lives have been changed" Ben explained, hiding something behind his back "Which is why we need a celebration." He threw the packet she had been hiding at Solana. The teal-haired girl smiled. Marshmallows.

* * *

The seven sat in a circle around the campfire, roasting their marshmallows on sticks. Neither Kate or Kellyn had ever had marshmallows before but now everyone, even Kellyn and Lunick, was starting to have fun. Ben and Summer were sitting close together, Summer leaning on her boyfriend. Kellyn was sitting alone, but now and again talking to Lunick. Kate and Summer were having a conversation whilst Keith seemed to be making a deal about something with Ben.

"You haven't got 2000 dollars!" Keith complained about something. Solana had just finished talking to Lunick about the previous dinner when she looked over at Summer. She raised both her eyebrows at her and then looked quickly at Lunick. Solana shook her head in annoyance and plucked her marshmallow off her stick.

'_If this is The Devil,_' she thought '_I'd love to see The Angel._'


	4. Time to jet

**Fight for freedom**

**Chapter four**

**Time to jet**

The next day, everyone started doing their own thing. Lunick kept going back and forth for firewood and water for everyone. Summer was talking to Ben about something. Kellyn had his sketchpad out and nobody knew or wanted to know where Keith was. Meanwhile Solana and Kate were sitting together on the opposite side of the waterfall. Solana had wanted to try and do a portrait of Kate, but she'd become distracted by their conversation.

"Wait" she said, her eyes wide "Not _one _guy has asked _you_ out?"

"It surprises you?" Kate asked "But, why would they?"

"Well, because..." Solana tried to phrase this right "Well if you won't hit me for saying so, you're beautiful!"

"No, my mum's beautiful" Kate sighed "I'm just... well you remember. I had braces for like two years. I've only just stopped wearing glasses. And...well... Well, she was the head fashion idol at school for like three years running. I actually asked her this year if I should even compete and she said... she said it wasn't just a good idea." She shook her head "Anyway, I'm doing really well at school at moment so..." she sighed "It doesn't really matter. And, you know, a guy will ask me out one day, I just don't know who, or when." Solana didn't know if she was reassuring her friend or herself.

"You know, I think I know one guys who's defiantly interested in you" Solana smiled.

"Really?" Kate's eyes widened "Who?" Solana was about to answer when...

"Wha-hoooo! Olay, olay, olay olay! Wooo!" Both turned around to see Keith standing on top of the waterfall, holding his stick in the air and chanting like a maniac, or Tarzan. They both laughed.

"YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" he cried like some sort of temple guardian from a movie and, using both hands, banged the stick onto the rock in front of him.

* * *

**Yeah, so Keith was acting like an idiot...again. We turned in that night under the waterfall outside the tents. We had no idea then. We were so naive back then. We have no idea that night would change us, forever.**

Everything was as it should be. Summer and Ben were in their sleeping bag next to each other. Keith was snoring; Lunick was wearing earmuffs to drown out the sound. Kellyn was such a light sleeper he found himself awake every half an hour or so to check on everyone. Kate was asleep and as was Solana, temporarily. It was around midnight when the teal-haired girl shot up in his sleeping bag, just stopping herself from crying out. She didn't know why. She hadn't been having a nightmare or anything, in fact her dream had been, in a word, nice. But then a sickening feeling of dread had washed over her and she was forced awake. A second later Kellyn also sat up. They made eye-contact in the dying firelight.

"D-Do you feel that?" Solana asked quietly. Kellyn gave what was probably a nod.

"Dread?" he asked. Solana nodded. They both startled at the sound of something throbbing overhead. They got up and walked to the cut in the waterfall that was the path. In the midnight sky, hundreds of small planes and a few slower moving jets zoomed overhead.

"What's going on?" Solana asked.

"Are they even ours?" Kellyn wondered. Solana wasn't sure if this was rhetorical so just shrugged.

"What's that smell?" Solana turned around, Summer was sitting up. It was the brunette who had asked the question.

"Jet fuel" she answered.

"What?" Summer looked very surprised.

"A bunch of army planes going somewhere" Kellyn said, walking back to the fire "Nothing to worry about, we should get some sleep." They all crawled back into their sleeping bags.

**If I knew the truth back then, I would have probably hit Kellyn back then, even if it meant he'd carry out his threat of us being sent hurdling down the river home. Back then, I should have wanted to go home. I wouldn't be here now.**

* * *

"Did anyone hear the jets last night?" Kate brought up the matter at 'breakfast', some freshly hunted rabbits on a spit.

"Yeah" Solana nodded, it was her turn to turn the spit now Ben was moaning about his arm hurting from doing so for so long "There were like loads of them."

"Yeah there were dozens and dozens" Summer agreed, sipping out of a plastic cup "Flying really low."

"Really?" Keith asked "Wonder where they were heading."

"But seriously, what do you think those planes were doing?" Kate asked.

"Maybe they weren't even ours" Ben suggested.

"Yeah, probably started World War Three and we don't even know" Summer joked, looking at Ben next to her.

"Alright, enough doom jokes" Solana sighed, standing up straight "Who having rabbit?"

"Who shot them?" Kellyn asked.

"Me" Solana grinned with pride "Well, that one there's Ben's."

"His brainwaves must have messed it up, I'll have one of yours" Kate teased.

"I think I'll pass" Summer groaned "Is there any chocolate left?"

"Um, sadly we're all out" Lunick answered.

"Or maybe not" Keith whipped something plastic out from behind Ben who immediately tried to grab it back "Hoarding goodies eh Ben?"

"Oh! It's a miracle!" Ben reached for the chocolate "I made it appear so give it back!" Keith stole a square.

"Ladies first" he smiled, handing the bar to Summer "Oh, well, if you put it that way, you should go first Ben." They all laughed as Ben aimed a swipe at Keith, the aeroplanes forgotten.


	5. A toast to the devil

**Fight for freedom**

**Chapter five**

**A toast to the devil**

A few hours later, they others walked further down the river to a shallow area where they decided to play with Ben's rugby ball. At first they'd just ran about with it, but when Kate opted out they discovered they had even numbers and could play in teams. At first they'd wanted boys verses girls, but Summer had complained at the boys not only having a bigger number but also having Kellyn, so they dispersed into two teams: Ben, Summer and Kellyn verses Solana, Lunick and Keith. So they used to sets of rocks about twenty meters apart from each other as goals.

"Here Sol!" Lunick called over the sound of splashing. Solana, who had the ball, was dashing about in the knee-deep water, trying to avoid Ben and Summer who were trying to both tackle her. She tossed the ball into the air and it ended in Lunick's hands. He managed a few steps before tripping into the water. Ben took advantage and grabbed the ball, lobbing it towards the enemy goal. Solana was there in an instant though and whacked it away. Keith ran for the ball but Kellyn got there first, sprinting towards the opposite goal.

"Kellyn! To me!" Summer quickly ran ahead of him "Kellyn!" The brunet boy was distracted though "Oi Kellyn!" Solana looked to where Kellyn was staring off to. She saw Kate removing her T-shirt to get in the water, but nothing else. Wait, Kate in a bikini! A red bikini with white flower patterns on!

'_No way_' Solana thought '_I was correct after all_?' But she couldn't test out his theory for at that moment Keith tackled Kellyn into the water and repossessed the ball.

* * *

Solana and Lunick had agreed to take their turn collecting firewood. It was their last night around the campfire so they were all trying to make the most of it. It had been Ben's idea to make a fire so big you could see it from Mars, by taking turns collecting firewood for an enormous pile.

"It's so beautiful here" Solana commented, looking at the plants around them "It makes you wonder why they call it El Diablo, huh?" She stood up and was walking away with her pile "I guess it's because it's so wild and untamed and stuff."

"Hey!" She turned around, Lunick looked almost annoyed "This place is difficult and wonderful and fascinating, but it's not the devil. _People_ call it that. People stick labels on things, until nobody can see who or what they really are any more." Solana paused, letting this all soak in.

"Yeah, I guess I never thought about it in that way before" she said "I..."

"Aaaaaaaargh!" They both turned round at the sound of a cry.

"Ben?" Solana asked, running towards the campsite. She dropped her wood on the pile and ran over to the semi-circle her friends had made around Ben's sleeping bag.

"What's wrong?" she panted "We-we heard the scream!"

"There's a snake!" Ben cried. Solana tensed.

"Snake, where?" she sounded panicked. Ben pointed at the ground.

"There's a snake in my sleeping bag!" he cried. Solana untensed and cocked her head to the side.

"Are you sure?" The sleeping bag looked still. Keith poked the sleeping bag with his stick. Something inside it hissed and move slightly. Summer and Kate squeaked, so did Ben is a surprisingly higher tone.

"Okay...um..." Solana tried to calm her racing heart and think of a plan "Well...what colour was it?"

"Well how was I supposed to know?" Ben complained "_I _didn't try to get it out!" He glared at Kellyn, who was shifting his weight from foot to foot and looking uncertain of what to do. Keith put down his long stick and picked up two smaller but thicker ones from the fire.

"Lot of redbellies out here" he said, bending down at the up-open end of the sleeping bag. Kate raised her hand.

"Are they deadly?" she asked.

"No" Keith reassured her, then paused "Well, only if they bite you." Kate nodded, taking a step back. Keith raised the closed end of the bag in the air.

"Shake it" Kellyn ordered. Keith dropped the stick immediately and began dancing to the girls' amusement.

"The bag Beyonce!" Ben complained "Hurry up! It'll be dark in a few hours and I need a place to sleep!" Kellyn shoved Keith out the way and lifted the sleeping bag up himself, then shaking it like it were a sheet. Automatically a grey snake with a red and yellow underbelly fell out. The girls shrieked, Ben and Keith yelped. Ben then screamed like a girl as the snake slithered through his legs. Kate leapt into the pool whilst Summer took shelter on top of a big rock. Solana made to do the same thing when she tripped over Keith's sleeping bag and fell hard on her rear. Any other time she might have complained, but she was staring wide-eyed at the grey snake inches from her leg.

"Solana look out!" At least three different voices cried that same sentence at the same time, but Solana found herself paralysed with fear as the snake recoiled, ready to strike. Just as it was about to bite, Lunick leapt over the rock Solana had been heading for a brought Keith's walking stick down hard upon the snake's higher neck. It struggled for a few seconds before it lay still. Lunick slowly removed the stick and it remained stick. Solana, still terrified by what had just happened, could only tremble as she looked at the dead grey reptile on the ground.

"Ah" Keith walked over and poked the dead snake "I was just about to do that myself." He picked it up "Crickey, that's a big one alright! Out here in the middle of nowhere a bite from one this big could be fatal."

"Keith!" Summer protested, getting down off her rock. She gestured at Solana who was still on the ground, looking at the spot the snake had died in. She had paled to the point of ghostly and was trembling harder than ever.

"I'm not sleeping in that bag again" Ben muttered, heading towards the pool "Good god!"

"No need to swear Ben" Kellyn sighed, ever the religious one. Lunick turned his attention from the dead snake in Keith's hands to Solana "You okay Sol?" Solana didn't look at him, but she gave a small nod.

"I-I'm going to get some water" she said in a quiet voice. Lunick helped her get to her feet and she walked shakily over to the pool. Speaking of the pool...

"Just one question Kate" Summer asked "Why did you get in the water?"

"To get away from the snake" answered Kate nonchalantly.

"You do know that snakes can swim right?" Keith asked.

"No they can't!" Kate smiled "Snakes can't swim! They haven't got fins! They slither!"

"They slither through water" Lunick explained.

"No they don't!" said Kate, briefly sounding like a know-it-all.

"What about sea snakes?" Kellyn asked. Kate's face fell and the colour drained from it almost as drastically as Solana's.

"Oh my god!" she cried "I-I could have _died_!" Everyone laughed, even Solana and Ben who had returned to do so.

"Oh Kate!" Summer laughed, giving her friend a friendly hug. Kate groaned.

"Can I go home yet?"

* * *

Night had fallen. The bonfire was ablaze as they drank from lid-less plastic cups.

"Do we have to go back?" Keith asked, watching the waterfall that looked indigo in the late twilight.

"Well, I am excited about a hot shower" Kate explained "And pillows."

"Yeah, _real_ pillows!" Summer agreed.

"Let's do this again" Lunick suggested "Back here, in the same place."

"With the same people" Kellyn nodded. Even he had to admit he'd enjoyed himself amongst the bozos.

"If we can find it again" said Ben, buttering some bread.

"We'll find it again" Summer reassured him "But let's keep this place a secret, or _everyone_ will start coming here and this place would be wrecked in no time." Solana nodded as she finished pouring the last cup for Lunick.

"Okay, a toast everyone" she said, holding his cup in the air "Ladies and gentlemen..." Just then Keith burped loudly.

"And Keith" Solana added to the list "To El Diablo!" The cups banged into each other with the sound of plastic on plastic. Everyone smiled.

"To El Diablo!" They all sat down again and began talking. Solana and Lunick knocked their plastic cups together before taking a sip.

"Cheers" they both smiled.


	6. Something's up

**Fight for freedom**

**Chapter six**

**Something's up**

The next day, they packed up their stuff and headed home to Wirrawee. They decided to stop at Solana's house first, to drop the Land Rover off before everyone else walked home. But they knew something was wrong the second they arrived in the yard. Plusle was tied up to her kennel, her ribs showing and her flank heaving as she lay in the noon day's sun.

"Plusle!" Solana screamed and cradled her precious dog's head "Plusle what happened?" Plusle just whined weakly. Solana turned desperately to her companion "Someone, give me some food! Anything!" Everyone began searching their pockets. Ben and Lunick raided Keith's pockets and found quite a lot of meat he'd packed for the journey home. Solana fed it to Plusle. Within minutes it started to take effect. Plusle got to her feet and sniffed at Solana's trainers. The teal-haired girl picked her puppy up and looked towards the house. It was silent, the wind overpowered the usual noise.

"What?" she murmured. She handed Plusle over to Summer before running towards the house. She dug her keys out of her pocket and unlocked the front door before bursting in.

"Hello?" she called, rushing from room to room "Mum! Dad!" She slammed the door of her parents' bedroom open, only to find the room was devoid of life "Hello! Where is everybody! Mum! Dad!" She rushed into the kitchen, the last room in the house. It was empty too.

"Where are your parents?" Kellyn asked, entering the kitchen followed by the rest of the motley crew.

"I don't know" Solana answered, looking about urgently.

"Maybe they left a note?" Summer suggested, still holding the weakened Plusle in her arms.

"Did they say they were going away?" Kate asked.

"What's the story 'Lana?" Keith asked, leaning through the kitchen window from the outside.

"I have no idea" Solana shrugged "They should be here."

"Let's try ringing my parents" Summer suggested, handing Plusle over to Ben.

"No, ring Keith's, they're closer" Solana told her. Summer went over to the kitchen phone and picking it up, tapping in the code for the Dazurus' house phone. She held it up to her ear, but lowered it after only a second.

"There's no dial phone" she frowned. She held it to a now panicking Solana. The older teen snatched the phone from her friend and examined it. She then put it down and flipped open her mobile. Instantly all mobiles were out.

"No signal" Ben voiced everyone's thoughts.

"What about the TV?" Kellyn asked. He picked up the remote and pressed the on button, but the screen remained black and lifeless. Not even the buzzing of static.

"Maybe your grandmother got sick so they left in a hurry?" Kate asked.

"So they cut the phone lines?" Solana asked doubtfully.

"Maybe they had an electrical problem?" Keith suggested "Maybe they..."

"No! They wouldn't do that!" Solana placed her hands on the marble work-surface and leant on them "They wouldn't just take off knowing I was coming home and leave Plusle to..." She gulped, looking at the emaciated puppy in Ben's arms.

"Oh yuck!" Summer staggered back from the fridge she had just opened. She slammed the door closed and wafted the air away from her nose "Smells like something died in there!" Solana looked horrified and Summer rethought her words "Not literally! I mean it stinks!"

"Power must be out" Keith said "I'll check the generator." He disappeared from the window.

"Where's your laptop?" Lunick suddenly suggested. Solana's eyes widened with realisation. She flashed Lunick a grateful smile before rushing into her room. Her laptop was sitting on the desk as always. She turned it on and attempted to open Internet Explorer, but the signal was out for internet too. She mumbled a curse, not something she usually did.

"Solana" She turned around and saw Summer in the doorway "They're not here. Let's go to Keith's."

* * *

It was a five minute drive to Keith's house. Solana honked the Land Rover's horn as they approached the house.

"Solana" Lunick got her attention, but she didn't stop "Solana!" He batted her hand away from the horn by leaning across the back of her seat. She glared at him in annoyance "Maybe not a good idea." She blinked. What did he mean?

The second they arrived, things didn't look good. The only noise or sign of movement was the wind-chimes above the front door under the porch. Keith paled drastically and leapt out of the Land Rover whilst it was still moving. In a mad panic, he bolted towards the door, fumbling around in his pockets for keys.

"Mama! Papa!" He cried, bursting into the house followed by most of the others. Only Lunick remained in the car. He clambered into the front seat and drove the Land Rover into the garage a few metres further down the road from the gate.

"What are you doing?" Solana asked as he leapt out of the car and pocketed the keys.

"Had to get it out of the open" he explained "Hiding it." He ran towards the house.

"Hiding it?" Solana asked "From who?" Lunick didn't answer, pelting towards the front door that had almost be knocked off its hinges by Keith.

"Is he talking about the planes?" Summer asked Solana quietly. Ben bared Lunick from the door.

"Leave what in the open?" he asked "What are you talking out? Lunick! Are you serious?"

"Completely" Kellyn shoved Ben out the way so Lunick could enter the house "He's smart, he did the right thing."

"What are you talking about?" Ben demanded. Kellyn said nothing, staring into space before vanishing inside the house.

Solana noted with horror it too was completely silent. No one was home. She rushed over to Keith who was fiddling with the radio/transmitter with a determined look on his face. Finally, he took of the headphone and sighed.

"Nothing" he told them "And it's ridiculously quiet out there."

"Did you send out a call?" Solana asked. Kellyn shook his head.

"Might not be safe" he said. Lunick nodded in agreement. He moved to unplug the radio/transmitter, but Solana stopped him. Kellyn instead did.

"No!" she told the midnight-haired teen "I know what you're thinking and it's not possible! Absolutely completely impossible and that kind of stuff doesn't happen here! Not in this country!"

"We have to be careful still" Kellyn put in "There might be a lot at stake here."

"He's right" Summer nodded "We've gotta assume something bad has happened."

"Of course something bad has happened!" Solana glared at her "My dog," she gestured at Plusle in Kate's arms "almost died! My parents are missing!"

"I didn't mean it like that and you know I didn't!" Summer argued back.

"Everyone just shut up, shut up please!" Ben sighed, massaging his temples to clear his head "Just please, what is going on?" There was a collective sigh.

"Keith, is this yours?" Kate asked, handing something she had picked up off the floor to the male ginger. He looked at it, his brown eyes close to tears.

"Mama's bracelet" he explained "She..." He choked on tears "She would never, never leave this behind. No matter what."

* * *

**Ben's place was next. I don't remember who suggested it, but we decided to stay of the main roads, and travel by motorbike rather than car.**

The seven motorbikes chugged to a halt outside Ben's farm. Solana was filled with dread as they only sound she heard was wind-chimes and the front door was swung wide open with leaves scattered across the grey-tiled floor.

"No! No no no!" Ben dismounted from his motorbike, knocking it over but not attempting to pick it up again. He raced inside "Mum! Dad! Lind! Grandpa!" Everyone else followed him as he began slamming the doors open to try and find his parents, grandfather or little brother. As he banged open the kitchen door, there came barking from the store cupboard.

"Ukulele?" Summer asked, referring to Ben's German Sheppard.

"Uke!" Ben flung open the store cupboard and the brown and black German Sheppard powered out, knocking Ben to the floor and covering him in wet kisses.

"He looks alright" Kate commented as Summer pried Uke off Ben and the two of them patted him all over.

"Yeah, we always leave food and water for him in there" Ben beamed with pride. Solana felt a pang of envy as she looked at the still-weak Plusle in her arms. Uke had managed so well on his own, so why hadn't Plusle? She briefly thought of Minum, Lunick's dog at his restaurant in town, but shook the thought away as said dark-haired teen looked down at Ben.

"You can't bring that" he informed him. Ben looked horror-struck "One emaciated dog is bad enough. A lively one as well causes trouble."

"You think I'm just gonna leave him here?" Ben asked incredulously.

"Ben..." Keith began.

"You think I'm just gonna leave him here!" Ben stood up now, his brown eyes practically on fire with fury "I'm not leaving him here!" A some-what fight broke out between Ben and Lunick. Summer rose to her feet to pull Ben away whilst Keith tried to deal with Lunick who was getting more and more agitated as the fight carried on. Uke scampered over to Kate for comfort.

"HEY! CALM DOWN!" Kellyn planted himself between the two of them and pushed the warring boys apart "Lunick's got a point. But listen, let's take Uke and Plusle to Summer's place, then we can make another decision depending on what we find there." He looked at both boys "Alright?" Both grumbled in agreement.

"Uke" Ben raised his chin and the German Sheppard barked in response "Let's go." He walked out of the house, followed by the others. Solana shot Lunick a 'Did you really have to start that?' look before the two of them went after them.

* * *

Summer's place was the same as everyone's. The fruit there hadn't gone off, so Kate set herself about chopping some apples and bananas up for everyone to eat.

"That's four out of four" Keith informed everyone, searching the bread box for something edible "The rest of you live in town." With this he looked at Kate, Lunick and Kellyn.

"Kellyn lives out on Coachman's Lane?" Kate suggested "It's right on the outskirts. It was be the easiest place to get to."

"It's the closest too" Lunick agreed, helping chop up the apples.

"Yeah" Kellyn nodded, peeling a banana "You can see most of Wirrawee from the hill out the back. Lucas and I used to play out there all the time." The brunet sighed, and Solana briefly wondered if he was thinking about the friend he had known since childhood. Lucas lived in town though, they was no way they were going to check on him.

"It might tell us something" Ben agreed. Keith nodded thoughtfully.

"Then we go to Kellyn's next" he agreed.


	7. If anything happens, run

**Fight for freedom**

**Chapter seven**

**If anything happens, run**

They decide to only take four motorbikes, Ben, Summer and Kate would ride on the backs of others' motorbikes in order to be discreet. They were entering Wirrawee itself now, it may be dangerous to attract too much attention.

The bungalow looked creepy in the moonlight, the sun had set before they arrived. Kellyn seemed reasonably calm compared to the others who had visited their houses. He knocked on the front door and called out in a language Solana couldn't identify. Then he switched back to English.

"Mother! Father!" he called, jamming the keys into the lock and twisting them. He opened the door and vanished inside the dark hallways, his speech changing back to the unknown language again.

"Uke, stay" Ben told his dog to wait at the door and they headed into the lounge. It was scattered with plenty of religious idols, but no people. Keith put his hand up to touch was appeared to be a crucifix model.

"Please don't touch that" Kellyn appeared from one of the hallways, his green eyes dark.

"Come on" Lunick touched the younger boy's shoulder "Let's check out the hill." Kellyn nodded and unlocked the back door. The seven of them made their way to the top which was hidden by a line of bushes and trees. Crouching out of sight behind the bushes, they looked down at the almost pitch-black town.

"Only streetlights" Kellyn explained "And something's going on at the showground. I can't hear what though." There was a spotlight searching the air and a megaphone going, but it was inaudible.

"Maybe that's where everybody is?" Ben suggested.

"What about those other lights over there?" Summer pointed to the far left.

"The hospital" Solana answered "They must be using the emergency generators."

"I think we should split up" Lunick suggested.

"Split up, no, we have to stay together!" Kate insisted.

"We need to be out of town before dawn" Lunick told the female ginger.

"I'll take Kate to her house" Keith suggested "Solana, can you get into the showground?"

"Yeah" Solana nodded.

"Kellyn and I will go into town to my place" Lunick finished, his partner nodding in approval "Then we'll meet back here at 5am."

"And us?" Ben asked "We just stay here?"

"Nope" Solana shook her head "You and Summer are coming with me to see the fair."

* * *

Cars were parked everywhere in the car park for the show. Ducking down to avoid the spotlights, Solana, Summer and Ben crept from car to car, slowly towards the tanker that hid the showground from view. As they darted behind a pickup truck only about twenty metres away from the tanker, they heard the megaphone sounding again, but couldn't make out what it was saying.

"Who's voice is that?" Summer asked in a whisper.

"I don't know" Solana whispered back. They paused for a few seconds, listening and trying to understand.

"I think we should go back" Ben decided, crawling back a few steps.

"No! Wait!" Solana hissed, grabbing a hold of his wrist "We have to get a better looked before we leave."

"Better look!" Ben whispered incredulously "Better looked at what Solana? Let's go!"

"One of us has to get closer before we go, we have to see what's going on!" Solana insisted.

"Well I'm not leaving Summer here" Ben decided immediately. Solana looked at him, then the tanker. She took a few deep breaths before nodding.

"I'll go" she agreed. She ducked out of sight and scramble out into the aisle towards the tanker.

"Solana no!" Summer cried, grabbing the hem of her friend's jacket. Solana looked at them.

"If anything happens, run!" Solana told them.

She then dashed along the aisle until she reached the unguarded strip of land before the tanker. A spotlight flickered across it before continuing its round. Solana took a few deep breaths, waiting for the spotlight to go by again, and then legged it. Seconds before the spotlight flickered across the path again, Solana flattened herself against the side of the tanker, out of sight. Summer and Ben watched her stay there for a moment before bending down and sliding underneath the tanker. Then, for a few seconds, she just lay there, unmoving.

"What's she doing?" Ben asked. Summer shrugged. Then both nearly died of shock as they made out part of the megaphone speech, and it wasn't good.

"**Please follow orders, or you will be shot.**"

The two of them stared at each other in shock. What in the world was going on? Summer then almost screamed as she heard loud voices, then a gunshot, followed by people screaming.

Solana suddenly stood up and bolted towards them.

"Solana no!" Ben cried "You'll be spotted!" The spotlight then washed over her, illuminating her pale face and auburn eyes for all to see. Ben and Summer weren't sure where from, but they heard gunfire. Solana bolted towards them, throwing herself behind the pickup truck as a car nearby them exploded.

"Run!" she screamed. The three of them, ducking down to avoid the gunfire, dashed in the direction of the exit to the car park. They were pretty close to the exit when the car behind them exploded. The girls shrieked and cowered behind the nearest car.

"You okay?" Solana asked though pants.

"Yeah!" Summer as panting hard too "Where's Ben?" Solana looked around. She couldn't see any brown gravity-defying hair anywhere.

'_Please don't be dead_' she prayed silently "He's probably got ahead!" Summer nodded. They heard the sound of engines starting and driving somewhere.

"Come on!" Solana cried, grabbing Summer's wrist and dragging her along "They're coming! They're coming!"

* * *

The two of them managed to escape the showground and head towards the outskirts of town, close to Kellyn's house. All the houses here were double-storied and had pretty gardens. Summer wasn't sure what was eating away at Solana, the teal-haired girl was acting like they had a pack of man-eating lions on their tail.

"Solana!" Summer called to the girl just ahead of her as they reached a pavement "Can we stop?"

"Summer come on!" Solana called back furiously, pelting on even faster, if that was possible "Please! Please!" She grabbed her friend's wrist and pulled her along by it. Finally, when they were near the bottom of the lane, they stopped.

"I don't like running!" Summer panted.

"Guys!" Someone darted out of the gate from someone's garden beside them. Both girls screamed, until they saw it was only Ben. He was hot and sweaty; he had apparently bolted here like half the American army was after him.

"Ben you moron!" Solana dealt him a punch to her shoulder.

"What happened to you?" Summer demanded.

"I thought you guys were ahead of me, so I just..." Ben began.

"You got scared and ran off, leaving us behind!" Solana finished for him, growling slightly.

"But Solana, you said that if anything was to happen we should run!" Ben fought back. He then paled and disappeared inside the garden again. Both girls turned around and saw car lights at the top of the street.

"More running?" Summer groaned. Solana nodded and pushed her into the garden, closing the gate behind them. The garden was empty beside a toy petrol tractor and a wall at the other end.

"Come on! Come on!" Ben hissed, leaping over the wall and ducking behind it. The girls followed suit, Summer smashing into the tractor on the way there. She was whimpering as they hid.

"My knee!" she hissed. Solana saw blood on her friend's knee.

"You alright?" Solana asked.

"No!" Summer gritted her teeth "I can't move it!" Solana looked up at the petrol tractor and saw lights waving from two gardens down the lane.

"I have an idea!" she explained "Do you have a strip of cloth?" Ben thought for a moment before reaching down and ripping up a strip of cloth from his shirt about two inches wide. He handed it to her.

"Good" she nodded "Get me a stick or something." Ben began rooting about in the fallen leaves. Solana's heart almost stopped as she saw lights waving about in the garden next to theirs. They had a minute at the most.

"Stay here" she whispered. She vaulted the wall and crouched down behind the little petrol tractor. She silently unscrewed the petrol lid and dipped the cloth into the oily mixture. Her heart leapt again as she heard the creak of their own garden gate opening. They almost here!

"Solana! Hurry!" Ben hissed from behind the wall. The teal-haired girl removed the rag from the tank and rinsed it out. The lights on the end of the enemies' guns could be seen just around the corner.

"Sol come on!" Summer whispered "Get back!" Solana leapt to her feet, crossed the garden in two bounds and jumped over the wall, getting out of sight a split second before the three soliders appeared in the garden.

"Will these do?" Ben held two sticks out, both half the width of his forearm.

"Yes, good" Solana nodded, taking them from him. She tied the rag and the sticks together as Ben looked over the top of the wall.

"Sol, they're coming" he whispered quietly. They heard the sound of someone approaching their hiding place.

"Lighter?" she whispered, gesturing at the sticks and rag. Ben shook his head, but Summer patted the pocket of her shorts. Ben rummaged around in it and brought out a silver lighter. He flicked it open the set the rag alight.

Without any warning, Solana stood up, holding the burning missile in her hand, and lobbed it at the toy tractor. The solders didn't even had enough time to turn before the tractor exploded. The soldiers were blow back, one landing quite close to where the teens were hiding. Solana felt warm air rush over the top of the wall and then die down slightly.

"Summer, we've gotta get outta here" Ben said, looping Summer's arm around his shoulder. They stood up and made their way across the field towards the hill that hid Kellyn's house from view "Solana, let's go!" The eldest of them rose to her feet and was about to follow when he auburn gaze trailed on the solider beside them and she screamed. It was barely a solider; a girl, only a few years older than her, possibly from China or Taiwan. The left side of her face was red from burns and the right side of it was bleeding. Her clothing was scorched and her legs were still on fire, but she was in too much pain to cry out. Her black eyes met Solana's red ones before they flickered lifeless and her head rolled to the side.

**She wasn't much older than I was, and she looked just as scared. I'll never forget her.**

Shakily, Solana took her gun and bullets, hanging the rifle by its strap over her left shoulder. Then she set off after Ben and Summer.


	8. Changes and fantasies

**Fight for freedom**

**Chapter eight**

**Changes and fantasies**

Dawn had broken over Wirrawee. Solana and Ben had to carry Summer between the two of them to Kellyn's house. As they approached the back porch, Kate opened the door. She looked relieved.

"Oh thank god!" she breathed "We heard an explosion and came right back here!"

"You see anyone at your house?" Solana asked. Kate shook her head.

"Mummy and Daddy weren't there" she informed them "Neither was Melissa."

"I saw a girl who looked like Melissa at the showground, I think that was her" Solana reassured her friend. She swallowed as she remembered what else she had seen at the showground.

"You guys okay?" Keith helped them into the house "Something went bang at the bottom of the hill."

"Yeah, that was us" Ben explained, helping Summer over to Kellyn's sofa. Uke bounded over to Ben and slapped his front paw on his master's stomach "Good boy Uke! You stayed here and protected Plusle! Good boy!" Plusle padded into the room and rubbed herself against her mistress' leg. Solana was relieved to see Plusle walking again. She set the rifle down on the table and leant against the wall, his hair hiding her eye from view.

"Where'd you get this?" Keith asked, pointing at the rifle. She looked at Keith, but all she did was give a little shake of her head and then hide her eyes from view again.

"Wait, where's Kellyn and Lunick?" Summer asked. Kate bit her lip.

"They...haven't come back yet" she answered.

"It's almost 6am" Keith commented "We were just about to give up on all of you and head to my place."

"Well we have to go and find them" Solana decided, walking over to the table and picking up the rifle.

"Solana" Keith stopped her.

"Keith, we have to go and find everyone" she said in a near monotone voice.

"It's daylight now" Keith barred her from the door.

"I'm not leaving them!" she growled. She wasn't worried about Lunick, he'd kick any solider that came his way unconscious if he was in danger. It was Kellyn she feared for. He maybe be able to send icy glares, but they didn't work on soldiers. And she'd never seen Kellyn physically harm anyone before.

"We're not leaving them" Keith reassured her "We'll come back tonight, when it's safe. Right now we have to get out of town. Summer's place is nearest, we'll wait there until it gets dark."

"Yeah, they'll be soldiers crawling all over town right now after the stunt you just pulled" Ben added, still making a fuss over Uke. Keith placed a hand on Solana's shoulder.

"We will find them, I promise" he told her.

* * *

They agreed they should get some rest at Summer's house. They parked the motorbikes in the garage and then headed inside out of the open. Keith began rummaging around the cupboards for some antiseptic cream for Summer's injury, Kate began to search the kitchen for food and Ben collapsed on the sofa the second he arrived.

"They're hoarding people" Solana told them, sitting on a chair by the work-surface "Everyone's being hoarded inside the showground, and they shoot people who don't follow orders." Summer's heart leapt as she remembered the gunshot they heard back at the showground before Solana ran and was spotted. Was that why her friend had been so jumpy?

"So, anyone know who's army it is?" Keith asked, looking up from the cupboard he was looking through.

"We didn't exactly stop to ask" Summer snorted.

"We'll ask Kellyn" Solana explained "He's good with flags and stuff like that."

"All I can say is that they're not American" Keith explained "Maybe Chinese or something like that."

"What does it matter?" Ben folded his arms and crossed his legs "It doesn't matter who they are! They're here now and we've just gotta deal with them!"

"Alright mate, calm down" Keith told him.

"No I won't calm down!" Ben stood up "Seriously, what difference does a flag make?"

"Just get some sleep" Solana sighed, throwing a cushion at him to shut him up "We'll deal with this in the evening."

* * *

It was about 2pm when Solana woke. On the floor beside her sofa, Keith was snoring and making enough noise to wake the dead. Ben was asleep on the other sofa whilst Kate and Summer had taken the bedrooms.

"Shut up!" Solana groaned, kicking Keith in the stomach. He startled awake.

"What?" he complained. Solana shushed him, gesturing at Ben who was still asleep.

"You were snoring!" she hissed.

"Was not!" Keith denied. He looked at the clock "That's enough sleep." They both sat up with a groan. Keith picked a plate of sandwiches from the table, and held them up to Solana.

"Kate made you them when you were asleep" he explained "I already had mine."

"Thanks" Solana grunted. She took a bit of one and winced at the taste of cucumber and butter mixed together.

"There were soldiers everywhere" Keith sighed, staring into nothing "We barely got out of town. We had to crawl all the way back to Kellyn's." He chuckled "Kellyn will kill me for that."

"What?" Solana tilted her head.

"Come on Solana, everyone knows Kellyn's hitting on Kate" Keith chuckled "I think he was bitterly disappointed when he got stuck with Lunick instead of her." Solana said nothing, just staring down at her plate. Keith sighed again.

"The others told me what happened" he looked at her "Sol, you did what you had to. It's not your fault." His brown gaze hardened "It's not _your _fault. It's theirs." She looked at him and he almost glared at her "It's all theirs." She could tell he was trying to reassure her.

"You're changing" she commented. Just a week ago, Keith had been caught taking ladders away from scaffolding so the workers couldn't get back down, just for fun. Now he seemed so serious, it was almost scary.

"Yeah" Keith hung his head, kicking his blanket off him "I just wish I knew whether it was for better or worse."

"Better" Solana gave him a small smile "Defiantly better." He gave her a small sigh and leant against the base of the sofa.

* * *

An hour later, Solana was sitting in the old tree house, sipping coffee. She picked up one of Summer's old Barbie dolls before putting it back in its yellow box it shared with a motley of other toys. She then picked up a sketch pad and flicked through it before replacing it again. She then picked up a soft toy from a chair in the corner and smiled at the memories it brought, before turning and letting her legs dangle off the edge of the tree house towards the dust-covered ground.

"Hey" Solana looked up as Summer entered the tree house and sat beside her.

"Looks good" Solana commented, looking at the bandage around Summer's knee "Kate always said she wanted to be a doctor." Summer said nothing, so Solana handed over her coffee mug. Summer took it and drank out of it from the other side to the one Solana had used.

"You're going to have to forgive him sooner or later you know" Solana told her friend.

"Ben, he just left us" Summer snorted "Solana; he just ran and left us." She sighed "I thought he loved me." Solana sighed too and looked at the roof of the tree house.

"Do you remember how many hours we used to spend up here?" she asked.

"You mean the tea parties?" Summer asked.

"Yeah" Solana nodded "We were so innocent back then." She shook her head "No, I feel like we were so innocent right up until yesterday. We didn't believe in Santa Clause or anything like that; we believed in other fantasies. We believed we were safe." She hung her head "I guess that was the biggest fantasy of them all right."

"Do you ever think we'll ever see Lunick and Kellyn again?" Summer asked "Kate was asking about him all night long. I...I think she likes him." She sighed "What a time to fall in love though."

"Yeah" Solana nodded. She wasn't going to add she knew how Kate felt.

Both looked at the valley as they heard a low rumbling sound. A grey fighter jet was zipping across the sky.

"That's one of ours!" Solana cried. Seconds later, a black fighter jet zipped after it, releasing bullets.

"That isn't!" Summer cried. The black fighter jet sent a missile on ahead. The missile hit the grey fighter jet and it exploded, debris raining down on the valley below as the black fighter jet turned tail and left.

* * *

A few minutes later, the girls had woken everyone and told them what had happened.

"How many planes do we have?" Kate asked.

"One less now" Ben grunted, leaning back into the sofa. Keith sat up.

"How's this?" he asked "I'll go into Wirrawee with Solana tonight and try and find Kellyn and Lunick. We'll go to Kellyn's house first in case they went back there, then go to Lunick's place downtown. You three can go back to my place and load up the Land Rover."

"Seems one heck of a risk going back into Wirrawee" Ben commented.

"Well what if it was you they were going back for?" Summer asked.

"Well don't ask me to go with you" Ben snorted, folding his arms.

"He's not asking" Summer told him.

"Well that's good, because I'm not going back!" Ben said adamantly.

"Get with it Ben, everything's a risk from now on!" Keith broke up the argument "We can't sit around here forever! The biggest risk is to take no risks!" Ben opened his mouth to say something, but then thought better of it.

"Alright" Solana sighed, seeing Ben had finally shut up "But if we can't stay here, where is it you want us all to go?" Keith paused for a second, then smiled.

"Into the devil's grip. El Diablo."


	9. Hunted

**Fight for freedom**

**Chapter nine**

**Hunted**

"For the last time we're not taking your teddy bears!"

Night had fallen, and everyone was sitting around the kitchen table, making a list of thing they had to take to El Diablo. Keith was writing them all down in a very frustrated manner.

"Not all of them, just one" Summer told him, patting Plusle who was sitting on her lap.

"We can't take things like that" Keith told her.

"Why not?" asked Kate. Ben snapped part of his bread roll off and gave it to Uke under the table.

"This isn't a picnic Kate" Keith explained "We have to start acting like soldiers. And since the only two of us who think like that are back in Wirrawee, the rest of us need to start getting priorities straight. One mistake and...it's all over."

* * *

Outside, a helicopter flew down the hill near the farm, its spotlight searching for life. Uke sat up, whined and ran outside...

* * *

"Can we take my mum's crowns and sashes?" Kate asked.

"Photos might be important, for moral and all that" Solana said.

"We're gonna need a trailer for all this stuff" Ben commented.

"If we can take crowns and sashes and photos, we may as well take Lind's bike" Keith told them, looking at Ben on the mention of his little brother "Essentials only."

"I have one" Ben sat up "Dog food for Plusle and Uke - don't forget to write that down." He stood up to try and get some water from the kitchen tap.

"They can eat rabbit!" Summer snorted.

"What about wire cutters?" Kate suggested. Keith smiled.

"Now that's a good idea!" he smiled, writing it down. Solana looked over the very small list.

"Two Ts" she told him, knowing how bad his spelling was. There came groaning noises from the sink as Ben tried to turn the tap on. He opened the cupboard below to look at the pipes and stop the noise. Solana and Summer rolled their eyes.

* * *

Outside, the spotlight grew ever closer to the farm. Uke began to bark at it...

* * *

"What about guns?" Keith had to speak out pretty loudly over the sound of the moaning sink "Guns and..." he broke off and glared at Ben who was trying to fix the sink that was making so much noise his relatives over in America could probably hear it. Summer growled.

"Just turn it off!" she yelled at him.

"I'm tryin'! I'm tryin'!" Ben called back, lying on his back on the floor and shoving his head and arms amongst the pipes under the sink. Solana sighed, picked up one of the candles they were using for light and carried it over to the sink so Ben could see better.

"The pipe's loose again!" Ben informed them over the noise.

"Can you fix it?" Solana shouted to him.

"Hang on!" The noise stopped and Ben's head emerged from the cupboard "Mr Fix-It has solved the problem!" Everyone else rolled their eyes.

"Wanna bring the British navy running while you're at it?" Keith hissed, then he froze "Shush!" They all went silent, listening to the sound of the helicopter and spotlight growing closer, and Uke barking at it.

"What's that?" Kate asked.

* * *

The helicopter was directly overhead now. Uke bared his needle-sharp teeth and growled up at it, head and tail lowered...

* * *

"We forgot to put someone on watch" Keith whispered. He leant across the table, blew out the candles gathered in the centre and turned off the oil lamp hanging near his head. Solana and Ben got to work blowing out the rest of the candles dotted around the room. The kitchen was thrown into darkness. Kate ran to move the curtains and look out the window.

"Don't touch the curtains!" Ben told her and she obeyed. The spotlight shone through the white curtains of the living room next to the kitchen.

"Spread out!" Keith ordered "Find a room each and if you see anything - yell out!" He picked up the rifle and clicked the bullet canister into place "And stay hidden!"

Everyone ran into the corridor. Ben took refuge in the study. Kate ran into Mr and Mrs Minami's bedroom. Solana had grabbed Plusle and was heading towards Summer's room when said girl tried to enter it and gasped before flattening herself against the wall of the corridor. A split second later, the spotlight shone though the red curtains.

"It's here!" she cried.

"Did they see you?" Keith's voice called.

"I-I don't know!" Summer called back, sweating bullets from fear. From outside, they all heard barking amongst the throbbing of the helicopter's blades.

"Uke!" Ben ran out of the study, only for Keith to shove him back in.

"Worry about him later!" the ginger snapped "He's a big dog, had can run if they try anything!"

"Ukulele, get inside!" Ben called to his dog from between the study's blinds. The spotlight suddenly turned onto the study window and Ben had to duck down to hide. Solana ran out of the bathroom as the spotlight shone through the painted glass and hid behind a small stretch of wall in between the two large windows in the living room. White curtains flapped around her, grabbing onto her limbs as the helicopter neared the window. The spotlight shone into the room, inches from Solana's skin. She looked around in panic and saw Keith hiding in the shadows of the corridor.

"Keith help!" she cried.

"Solana! Stay still!" he called to her. She swallowed and screwed her eyes shut, staying as still as possible. Her life may depend on it. Kate, now with Plusle, ran over to Summer and both flattened themselves against the corridor's wall.

"What do we do?" the gingerette screamed. The spotlight stayed trained on the window for several seconds before it flickered away and the helicopter buzzed off into the night. Silence beyond panting filled the living room, the house consumed by darkness. Slowly, everyone crept out of their hiding places and made their way into the living room. Solana's heart was pounding so much she felt like she was going to have a heart attack.

"Good thing you're so skinny" Keith commented as she removed herself from the strip of wall she'd been leaning against.

"Yeah, I guess" she gulped.

"Guys!" Ben tore into the living room "It's coming back!" The buzzing sound came whizzing towards them too fast for them to react. The helicopter appeared outside the window, its spotlight nailing them dead on. Ben hid behind of the sofas whilst the girls flattened themselves on the floor. Only Keith remained standing. Reacting by instinct, he whirled to race the window, raised the rifle and fired. The bullet smashed through the window and completely destroyed the spotlight. The helicopter left the window and flew directly over the house. They heard things dropping and red lights fly outside the window. Everyone stood up, whilst Keith paled to the point of ghostly, realising what he'd just done.

"Flares" he breathed.

"They're marking the house" Solana gulped. The helicopter sounds then died away as it flew away one final time over the valley. Ben, furious, stomped over to Keith and snatched the rifle from him.

"Thanks a lot Keith!" he shouted.

"No one asked for your opinion mate" Keith sighed quietly, hanging his head.

"They know we're here now!" Ben continued.

"Of course they know!" Keith argued back "They saw us through the window!"

"Well they didn't know we had guns!" Ben yelled at him.

"He got scared alright!" Summer snapped "But of course you don't know what it's like to be scared, do you?" Ben bit his lip, remembering the showground incident.

All froze as they heard a rumbling noise above the hill. It was growing closer.

"Fighter jet" Solana squeaked, remembering the sound of the black jet that had destroyed the white jet earlier.

"We've gotta get out of here" Keith sounded panicked "Everybody out! Now!" Shouts of 'Run!' were yelled by everyone as they escaped through the front door and sprinted up the path towards the shed where they kept the bikes. Plusle, still in Kate's arms, began to howl. Uke was barking again, growling at the helicopter. Looking over her shoulder, Solana saw the shadow of the jet as it passed between two mountains.

"Run! Run!" she screamed, looping Summer's arm around her shoulder so the younger girl could move faster with her injured knee. Ben suddenly stopped and turned back.

"Uke!" he cried, pounding down the slope again "We forgot Uke!"

"Ben no!" Solana cried after him "Come on! Run!"

"I've gotta get Uke!" Ben cried back to her, making a bee-line for the barking German Sheppard. They had all made it to the shed as Ben reached Uke and picked him up. The jet was too close for comfort.

"Come on Ben! Run!" They all cried in various different pitches. Ben began pelting towards them as fast as his short legs would take him. As the jet was almost level with the house, Ben dropped Uke and let him run straight into the bike shed. His yellow scarf streaming behind him, the brunet pounded towards them like his life depended on it, which it did.

"Ben run!" Everyone screamed, even Summer. As he reached the bottom of the ramp leading up to the shed, Ben took a flying leap into it. As he did so, the fighter jet dropped the missile onto Summer's house and caught it to make an explosion ten times the size of the one Solana made yesterday. The force of it blew Ben into the shed, causing him to land on top of Summer and Keith. Only after the debris had finished flying overhead did they looked back. The house was now a huge bonfire, only the structure of it showing black against the blaze. Tears ran down Summer's cheeks, watching the house she had grew up in that contained so many memories be taken away from her in a single second. Ben was panting hard, hugging Uke, his brown eyes wide as if he realised if he had delayed for even a second he would have been flambéed with the house too. Keith had never looked so guilty and Kate was clutching Plusle tightly.

**Keith was right. Only the devil could protect us now. But first we had to find Kellyn and Lunick.**

* * *

Solana and Keith drove via motorbike towards Wirrawee. On the way, Solana stopped on the ledge that looked over Cobblers' Bay. The darkness stopped her from seeing much, but she could see many lights crossing the Heron Bridge.

"What's wrong?" Keith asked, pulling up beside her.

"The Heron Bridge" Solana answered. Keith followed her gaze.

"Look at all of them" he breathed "I can't even count them all."

"They're coming up from Cobblers' Bay" Solana realised "I bet you that's one of the first places they captured."

"Wirrawee was just the nearest town" Keith added "And our bridge gives them complete access to it." He shook his head "I always hated that bridge. I remember the time Kevin, Jake, Ponte and I tried to blow it up." Solana give him an incredulous look.

"Anything else you want to tell me?" she asked "You tried to bomb the town hall or set fire to the hospital?"

"Nope, although we were going to set fireworks off from the top of the police station" Keith grinned. Solana's eyes widened and she shook her head. One second Keith seemed to have changed, the next he was his usual sly cheeky self.

"Come on" the ginger revved his motorbike engine "We have to get to Kellyn's house." He then took off down the road, Solana closely following.

* * *

It didn't take them long to get to Kellyn's house. Solana noted as she approached that the front door was partially open. She hoped that meant Kellyn and Lunick were back, rather than someone else had gotten in. Keith evidently had the same thoughts, as he gave Solana the rifle and he himself picked up a metal pole from outside the house as a weapon. Solana went around corners first, Keith covering her back as she did.

As they went into the kitchen, their hearts both stopped. Something long and thin was moving from behind the corner that led to the living room. As a head appeared, Keith cried out and raised the pole into the air. Solana's auburn eyes widened.

"Keith no!" she cried "That's just...!"

**DONK! **

Too late. Keith brought his metal pole down hard on the person's temple. They gave a cry of pain and alarm and then fell to the ground at the teens' feet. Solana swallowed.

"...Kellyn" she finished. She bent down and picked Kellyn's unconscious body up in her arms and carried him over to the sofa. She entered the kitchen and Keith heard the sounds of cupboard doors banging and water rushing. She came back with a bowl of water and a sponge. Sitting on the armrest, she dipped the sponge into the water and then dabbed it against Kellyn's now bleeding wound on his temple.

"How did you know it was him?" Keith asked, picking up Kellyn's 'weapon' - a wrench.

"That's his father's wrench" Solana answered "I saw him using it the day I invited him on the camp trip."

"What was he gonna do, beat us with it?" Keith asked with a laughing snort "The guy couldn't kill a spider without praying for forgiveness!" Solana shot him a glare. She dabbed the wound again and Kellyn suddenly awoke. He gave a cry of fear and tried to sit up, but only succeeded in banging his forehead into the bowl Solana was holding above his head.

"Shush! Kellyn! Calm down!" Solana put the bowl and sponge down and pinned the terrified boy down onto the sofa. She could tell by the traumatised look in his green eyes that something had happened that wasn't Keith fault.

"S-Solana?" he asked shakily.

"Hey" she smiled "It's just me and Keith. Sorry about before, blame Keith for that." Keith huffed and folded his arms.

"Oh thank god" Kellyn exhaled, plainly relieved "Don't worry, it doesn't hurt. You just scared me, that's all."

"Kellyn, listen" Solana cupped his chin with her hand "Where's Lunick?" Kellyn paled and began shivering, and Solana felt dread wash over her "Do you know?"

"Y-Yeah" Kellyn nodded "It's just, Lunick..." he gulped "He...He's been shot."


	10. Just what happened

**Fight for freedom**

**Chapter ten**

**Just what happened**

Kellyn took them down to Siren's Street where Lunick's restaurant was. Apparently he'd left Lunick there and ran back to his house for help, where he'd met the two of them. They hid in an alley just a few shops down from the restaurant. Cars had been overturned and were now on fire, rubbish and glass littering the street. Kellyn peered around the corner and looked left and right.

"Wait here a minute" he whispered to them. He disappeared around the corner. Solana prepared herself for the sound of car tyres screeching and guns firing, but the street remained quiet besides the flickering of flames. Then they heard the whining of a dog and Kellyn's voice whisper:

"Stay here Minun." before he returned again "All clear. Minun's been guarding the place." They all followed him at a half-run to the door of Lunick's restaurant. Through a hole where the glass had once been in the door, Solana could see tables had been overturned and paper littered the floor alongside salt and pepper shakers and smashed glass. In the middle of the room sat a brown Labrador puppy: Minun. He whined as he saw Solana and Keith, but Kellyn gave him a pat on the head.

"Easy Minun, good dog" he told the puppy, then gestured for the others to follow him "Come on, Lunick's in the back room." They made their way through the glass and tables to the kitchen at the back. A white-haired man in his late forties was standing over the workbench. Lying on the workbench was Lunick. He was sitting up, but Solana couldn't tell where he was injured yet. At least he was still alive though. That was enough to make her sigh with relief.

Keith however wasn't so reassured. He pointed the rifle at the man.

"Leave him alone!" Keith ordered.

"Don't point that thing at me, sonny" the man warned in a stern voice.

"Keith, put it down. This is Doctor Clemens" Lunick told them "It's okay, he's my dentist. He works across the street." Kellyn gave a sigh of relief, walking over to them.

"Doctor Clemens, it's me" he smiled "You remember me right? Kellyn Hajime?"

"Pipe down the lot o' ya'!" Doctor Clemens shushed him "Don't you know there's a war going on?!" He walked over to the window and check outside. He then walked back over to Lunick "Here. Shine that light here." Keith shone the light on the end of the rifle on Lunick's outstretched leg. His left leg near his ankle had a nasty bullet wound through it.

'_Just his leg_' Solana thought with relief, then annoyance '_Thanks for giving us a heart attack Kellyn_!'

"How is it?" she asked Doctor Clemens.

"He was lucky" the dentist replied, cleaning the wound out with an injection of water, Lunick wincing as he did so "The bullet went straight through him."

"Thank you" Solana told him. Doctor Clemens looked up from his work.

"You're a Hinata, aren't you?" he asked, then puffed out his cheeks and exhaled "You guys picked one heck of a weekend to go camping out in the middle of absolute nowhere."

"We heard the planes" Kellyn explained "But we didn't see any..."

"That's how they did it" Doctor Clemens cut him off, pointing at him the way an old man making a point might "Flew in planes and container ships. Took all the ports and runways in the first 24 hours." He walked over to a medical kit and fumbled around in it "The news said there was some kind of explosion at the airfield, none of us paid much attention to it." He returned with a bandage and began dressing Lunick's wound "Next thing you know they're rolling across the Heron Bridge in their tanks and trucks, rounding up everyone and taking them all down to the showground. Lunick's whole family." He looked up at Solana briefly "Yours too."

"And mine?" Kellyn asked nervously.

"Yours I don't know anything about" Doctor Clemens shook his head, barely giving Kellyn a glance.

"What about my parents?" Keith asked, causing the dentist to look up at him "George and Lucy Dazuru?"

"Do they ever get their teeth fixed?" Doctor Clemens asked.

"No" Keith answered.

"Then how in the world do you expect me to know who they are?" Doctor Clemens snorted.

"My mother's an American" he tried, hoping to give a hint.

"Americans, Australians, Asians, what's the difference?" Doctor Clemens snorted "We're all in the same boat now." He finished dressing the wound and rolled up his equipment "I've been hiding in my basement, just waiting for them to come and find me." He looked at Kellyn "I thought I'd finally snapped when I saw you carry Lunick in here."

"Kellyn?" For the zillionth time today, Solana found her auburn eyes widening "You carried Lunick here?"

"Yeah" Kellyn shrugged, leaning against the wall with his hands in his shorts' pockets "I had to." Lunick was by no means the lightest nor the smallest person in the world, so Solana had no idea how someone as lean and small (although he hated to admit it, Kellyn was the shortest of the group if you counted Ben's hair) as Kellyn managed to carry him.

Doctor Clemens beckoned them over to the table. Wrapped in a blue cloth he had placed a tub of clear liquid, two syringes and a bag of yellow pills.

"Now, if his leg starts to hurt again you're gonna have to give him another shot" he told them.

"Wait, you're leaving us?" Solana asked.

"Look, I took a big risk coming down here for Lunick" Doctor Clemens told her "Now I've done enough! I've gotta go!"

"W-Wait, Doctor Clemens" Solana stopped the dentist on his way out "Are there any others out there, like us?"

"Oh yeah" Doctor Clemens nodded "Yeah, I've seen quite a few people try to do some _things_. Tried to be _heroes_. Apparently one group of kids your age tried to blow up the Heron Bridge, tried to stop all those convoys coming up from Cobblers' Bay. Only two survived, a girl and boy, a Reginald and an Ashford." Kellyn perked up.

"Max and Luke!" he gasped, referring to his two oldest friends.

"Yeah, Maxine and Lucas from over on Sheep Avenue" Doctor Clemens nodded "Them and a couple of school friends drove a burning truck onto the bridge, didn't blow it up though. One died in the car, another four were shot dead. Only those two got away, and one was supposingly reported blind." Kellyn paled. Solana didn't blame him. If someone told her Keith and Summer had only just survived a bloodbath and one was blind, she'd be scared too.

"They all paid the price" Doctor Clemens finished. Then he pushed open the door and disappeared out of the kitchen. Keith and Kellyn looked out of the door and watched Doctor Clemens creep out of the restaurant and dash across the road into the building opposite.

"Hey" Solana walked over to Lunick, followed by the others. The midnight-haired boy was fidgeting, evidently getting stiff from sitting in the same position for so long.

"You okay mate?" Keith asked.

"I will be" Lunick nodded "But we need to get out of town." They all agreed on this.

Lunick looped his arms around Solana and Keith's shoulders and they helped him down onto the floor. He hissed with pain as he put weight on his injured leg and lifted it off the ground again.

"Just hop, alright" Solana told him. He did this and they hoped around the kitchen worktable a few times to get the hang of it. As they were ready to go, they heard Minun bark from the restaurant. Kellyn disappeared for a second before re-entering the kitchen, two fingers tucked in Minun's collar as he dragged the Labrador along.

"They're coming" was all he said.

* * *

A group of armed troops made their way up Siren's Street, dodging the debris and burning cars, flashing the lights on their rifles into the broken windows of the buildings. As they passed the restaurant, they missed the sight of Keith and Solana peering over the window sill at them before ducking out of sight as the light passed over them. The two made their way behind the counter where Kellyn and Lunick was sheltering with Minun.

"I think we should get a vehicle to escape in" Kellyn suggested.

"You always get two" Keith explained "One you dump somewhere, the second picks you up and you escape in."

"Oh right, so you've have practise at this?" Kellyn asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, we had to find get-away cars to escape the police after we robbed a pizza shop" Keith grinned proudly. Kellyn blinked, wondering who 'we' meant, then shook his head and decided to ignore the answer.

"Great, so I'll just get Mum's car, park it out the front and ask the soldiers to look the other way, shall we?" Solana asked, sarcasm dripping from her words. She sighed "Sorry, I'm just...tired."

"How about we get something small?" Lunick asked "What choices do we have?"

"Um...golf carts, shopping trolleys" Kellyn suggested "Prams, pushchairs..." His eyes lit up "Wheelchairs?"

"Yeah, we can get you a wheelchair" Keith agreed, looking at Lunick.

"I could" Lunick nodded thoughtfully "But the more I move this the more it hurts."

"Wait, what if we're thinking about this the wrong way?" Solana asked "We're thinking of small, quite, sneaky things. But what if we went the other extreme? What if we turned up in something so big, so indestructible, that nothing could stop us?"

"Like what?" Lunick asked. Solana smiled mischievous and looked at Kellyn. His face fell.

"Oh no!" he warned "Uh-uh! That was a one-time thing! Adam dared me to do it!"

"You know how to drive one, don't you?" Solana asked. Kellyn sighed.

"Yeah" he agreed.

"What are you two going on about?" Keith asked. Kellyn groaned and the back of his head rested against the counter.

"This cannot end well."


	11. An insane ride

**Fight for freedom**

**Chapter eleven**

**An insane ride**

The beeping noise echoed off the broken buildings of Sirens Street as the rubbish truck ploughed through the rubble. Its yellow lights spun in its sirens, bathing parts of the street in a brief yellow glow. In the cab, Kellyn grasped at the plastic coating of the steering wheel, having to lean backwards slightly so his foot reached the acceleration pedal, since the driver's seat was designed for someone will longer legs than little Kellyn. As he pulled up outside the restaurant, he switched his foot to the brake and then released the scoop at the front of the truck. The truck didn't stop as quickly as he thought it would, and the skip grinded along the road for a few metres, sparks flying and the sound of metal screeching alerting almost everyone in Wirrawee of their location. He muttered a curse under his breath as the truck finally stopped. He had to use two hands to apply the handbrake.

"Hurry up!" he called to his companions who were just pushing open the door of the restaurant. Lunick came hopping out with Solana supporting him with his arm looped around her shoulders again.

"Want to tell Norway where we are too while you're at it?" Solana asked.

"Move now, sarcasm later!" Kellyn hissed back "Just get in the cab!" Solana helped Lunick over to the passenger door, but quickly realised they had a problem: it was over a metre off the ground and there was no way Lunick could hop up the iron rungs of the tiny ladder used to get to the door.

"I can't climb up there" Lunick voiced her suspicions.

"Right" Solana bit her lip "In the scoop." Lunick's aqua eyes widened.

"What did you say?" he asked.

"In the scoop" she repeated, pushing the midnight-haired boy into the scoop. Lunick evidently thought she was mad, but didn't say anything else and obediently lay down in it. Minun bounded into it after his master. Kellyn stood up and looked over the steering wheel to try and see what was going on. Once she was sure Lunick was reasonably comfortable, Solana climbed into the driver's seat, scooting Kellyn along to the passenger seat.

"Lunick's taking the window seat" she told her passenger, lifting up the scoop so it was just below the cab's front window.

"Be careful" Kellyn told her.

"Like you can talk" Solana snorted "I thought you said you could drive this thing."

"I said _a _rubbish truck, not _this_ rubbish truck" Kellyn folded his arms and shook his head.

"Er...guys" Lunick looked up from the scoop "We have company." Five soldiers with rifles to hand were approaching the rubbish truck. They hadn't fired yet, but that was probably from shock.

"Drive Solana!" Kellyn cried, fixing his seatbelt into place "Drive!"

Removing the handbrake, Solana fumbled around below the dashboard with her foot for the pedal. She found it, but the wrong one. She'd been intending to zoom forwards and get the soldiers to leap out of the way, instead they ended up going backwards. Thinking they were trying to retreat, the soldiers open fired. Lunick yelped and took cover in the scoop. Kellyn screamed and used his arms to protect his head from the raining glass as part of the front window shattered from the bullets.

"Hold on!" Solana cried the back end of the rubbish truck sent a car flying out of their reverse path. The soldiers had stopped firing now, but only to run and try and keep up with the reversing truck.

"Here!" Solana shoved the rifle towards Kellyn "Take this and shoot them back with it!"

"No!" Kellyn shook his head, his green eyes blazing defiantly "I won't do it!"

"Kellyn this is no time to go all religious!" Solana cried, shoving the gun closer to her way over-reacting passenger.

"I said no!" Kellyn protested, lying flat on the seat to protect himself from the gunfire which had resumed again now the soldiers had found their pace. Seeing Kellyn wasn't going to comply, Solana dropped the rifle on the seat next to her and focused on driving. In the scoop, Lunick covered his ears with his hands to try and block out the deafening sound of metal smashing against metal. The glass on Solana's side of the window shattered above her head, and a single shard scratched her hairline. She screamed with pain as her whole head felt like it was on fire. Dabbing her hand against her aching head, she saw red liquid on her fingers. Blood, her blood.

"You bleeding!" Kellyn exclaimed. Ignoring the pain, Solana came to the crossroads and reversed to the left. Then she slammed her foot of the acceleration pedal and they powered forwards down the right road. Lunick briefly looked up to see what was happening, then hid below the yellow metal teeth of the scoop again.

"I hope Keith's found a get-away car" Solana swallow nervously, moving the gearstick into the next gear.

"I just hope he remembers where to meet us" Kellyn added.

"Oh come on Kellyn!" Solana rolled her auburn eyes "Keith may not be the brightest bulb in the box but he knows how to find a church!" Kellyn looked out of the side window.

"Solana! Behind us!" He cried. Solana looked at the wing-mirror and saw what appeared to be a cross between a golf-cart and an electric-powered go-cart behind them, two soldiers sitting in it. It vanished behind the truck and then appeared again...or did it? The first time it had a red stripe on the front of it, now the stripe was blue.

'_Great, there's two of them_' she thought "Kellyn, if you're going to go all religious on me, I suggest you start praying now!" The truck whizzed around a hairpin bend, causing them all to flop to one side of the cab. She heard a loud moan from Lunick as he wacked his head off the scoop as he was sloshed to the right side of it. Kellyn looked out the window a second time. He saw the go-cart illuminated by spotlights on a frame suspended above it, then retreated his head again as it started to let loose gunfire. A whirl of bullets hit the back of the truck, briefly lifting it off its back two wheels. Kellyn yowled with terror and bent his head forwards so it almost touched his knees, his hands covering his ears.

"Hold on to your seats!" Solana called as they rounded a corner and the front left wheel bounced up onto the kerb of the pavement before crashing down onto the tarmac again, bouncing them in their seats. Lunick looked up out of the scoop again. One of the go-carts took a shortcut and pulled up level with them. Seeing it and hearing the raining gunfire made Lunick's aqua eyes widen and he ducked for cover again. The rubbish truck then smashed into a burning car, swiping it away to the side with its sheer strength and size.

As she turned a roundabout, Solana looked over at Kellyn and saw he was clutching the door-handle so hard his knuckles had turned white. His eyes were squeezed shut and he was muttering something under his breath. Solana couldn't tell if it was a prayer or a string of curses, but she guessed it was the first one. At least, she hoped so, they needed a miracle right now.

The rubbish truck bounced as the go-carts started firing at the tyres, finally succeeding in taking one out. Solana looked ahead and saw three overturned cars blocking the road.

"Hold on!" she cried as loud as possible. The rubbish truck slammed straight into them, tossing them like they were toys out of the path. Solana then yanked the steering wheel to the left, causing them to take a sharp ninety-degree turn. One go-cart skidded a bit but was able to follow. The second completely messed up the turn and drove straight into a set of low-hanging electrical wires. The new added weight pulled the wires into the air, dragging the go-cart up with them slightly so it dangled two metres off the ground. One man fell out of his seat onto the pavement below, the other was presumably electrocuted.

"Yes!" Solana cheered, punching the air with her free fist.

"We lost one of them!" Kellyn cheered too. The other go-cart though was still on their tail and rapidly firing at them. It burst a second tyre, causing them to veer off to the right down a small road named Forest Bank.

"We've lost another tyre!" Solana cried over the sound of the roaring truck and vrooming go-cart. Lunick raised his head and looked back at them, then heard the firing going on and ducked his head again. They took another right, ending up on the same road as before, just coming from the opposite direction.

"You're just driving in circles!" Kellyn yelled at Solana.

"I'm doing the best I can!" she yelled back as they smashed through another set of overturned cars.

Up ahead, Solana saw the hanging go-cart, its wheels spinning feebly due to the extra electricity running through it. Lunick yelped and flattened himself against the very base of the scoop. Kellyn screamed and ducked down below the dashboard. Solana screamed too and flattened her up body against the steering wheel. The corner of the truck smashed into the go-cart, sending it flying into the wall of the building next to it. It then came back down again, smashing into the other go-cart that was passing and taking them both out. The both blew up in the third explosion that had occurred in the previous two days. Lunick gave a sigh of relief. Solana laughed with joy whilst Kellyn just panted, a little impressed.

"You are dangerous!" he commented.

"I know!" Solana smiled proudly "That's what my driving instructor told me!" Kellyn looked a bit uncertain, but appeared to realise this wasn't the time such things and said no more.

The rest of the ride was peaceful. They drove up a small hill and parked outside the church Kellyn's mum usually worked at. The two of them got out of the cab, Lunick peered out of the scoop, his eyes wide with terror.

"Is it over?" he asked shakily. Solana nodded and looked around.

"Where's Keith?" she asked. The car-park was empty besides their rubbish truck "He's suppose to be here! Where is he?!"

"Maybe he got caught?" suggested Lunick gloomily.

"Or maybe he's lost?" Kellyn tried to add a positive outcome. After a few tense seconds of waiting, Solana turned around and walked back towards the cab.

"We have to get out of here" she said "We have to leave now."

"No" Kellyn blocked her path "We've got to wait for Keith."

"Well how long do you think it's gonna be before they get another vehicle out here, or even a helicopter?!" Solana asked him, plainly upset and frustrated. She didn't mean to take her anger out on Kellyn, but she jsut couldn't hold back any more "Move Kellyn! We have to leave _now_!" Just as she was finishing, white headlights illuminated the car-park. Solana prepared her rifle, but relaxed when she saw it was only a silver Mercedes. The engine stopped and out of the driver's seat stepped Keith, throwing the keys up and down in his left hand.

"Sorry I'm late guys" he patted Kellyn and Solana's shoulders using both of his hands. He moved past them to help Lunick out of the scoop, earning three incredulous stares "I forgot where the church was."


End file.
